Museum seeks to dismiss lawsuit over Gogh painting

Visitors walk past Van Gogh’s painting “The Novel Reader” in the Van Gogh in America exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Art on January 11, 2023 in Detroit. (Andy Morrison/Detroit News via AP)

DETROIT (AP) — A Detroit museum, which is displaying an 1888 Vincent van Gogh painting as part of an exhibition featuring 80 of his works, says it shouldn’t be left in the middle of a dispute over its ownership.

The Detroit Institute of Arts said federal law grants it immunity in a lawsuit brought by a Brazilian collector who claims to own the painting titled “The Novel Reader.” The museum responded in court on Monday, less than a week before the rare US exhibition ends.

A lawsuit claims that Brokerarte Capital Partners LLC and its sole owner, Gustavo Soter of Brazil, purchased the painting in 2017 for $3.7 million, but that “a third party” seized the work, which had been missing for nearly six years. years.

The Detroit museum is not charged with any wrongdoing. It has not revealed the identity of the collector who lent the painting to the exhibition, saying only that the oil-on-canvas painting came from a collection in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The work was not identified as stolen by the FBI or the Lost Art Registry, which is international, the museum said.

In addition, the museum noted that it is protected by a federal law that prevents judges from seizing imported art for temporary display.

Any legitimate claim about the painting “may be adjudicated to a dispute between interested parties in a court with jurisdiction over such matters and where appropriate. That court is not the right one,” wrote museum attorney Andrew Pauwels.

U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeh last week ordered the museum to hold the painting while it learns more about the dispute. There is a scheduled hearing on Thursday. The van Gogh exhibition ends on Sunday.